Method of decorating glassware and article produced thereby



Jan. 17, 1928. I 1,656,260

, E. A. ZEH

METHOD OF DECORATING GLASS WARE AND ARTICLE PRODUCED THEREBY Filed April 5, 1926 zajf 12 13 @EQA INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 17, 1928 E WABPA-, ,ZE.H: prom-Iron, NEW JERSEY.

METHOD OF DECORATING GLASSWARE A ND ARTICLE PRODUCED THEBEBY.

Application med April 5, 1926. Serial No. 99,789. i

The invention relates in general to the art of fixing designs permanently on glass, china or other fusible surfaces to be decorated, and

the invention specifically relates tothe firing into a glass or similar surface those forms of designs which are usually termed decalcomania, and which are printed in glass colors and Welded, fused or otherwise affixed to the front of the glass objects to be decorated by the usual firing operation. -The present invent-ion constitutes a companion application with the application of Charles C. Zeh on which was granted United States Letters Patent No. 1,570,368, January 19,

1926. i In the above identified Letters Patent it was suggested in the specific description of the method therein disclosed, that ,a decal.- "comania of the design-desired be positioned on a separate background glass label of opal or other color contrasting with the colors in the decalcomania, and that by means of a single heating operation the decalcomania be fused to the glass label and the glass label in turn fused to the bottle or other glass object to be decorated. Thisfpreviously'disw closed method has the disadvantage in that either the glass label must be positioned on the outside of the glass bottle projecting therefrom, or the glass bottle must be-provided with a shallow recess to accommodate the glass label. The latter way of mounting the glass label necessitates the use of specially prepared bottles which added to the expense of the finished article.

\ Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to provide a methodfor I decorating glass and like surfaces which will have all the advantages of producing the de- 40 sign clearly .and distinctly set off visually from a contrasting background, as wasfea- -.tur'ed in the above identified application; and which desideratum can be obtained without necessity of providing a recessed or other 45. specially constructed surface for receiving the design. Broadly,;this phase of the invention is attained by positioning on the glass surface a layer'of fusible color shaped to give the desiredbackground; subjectingthe same to an initial firing ,operation to'fix the back ground color to the glass body, locating on the background thus formed a decalcomania of the insert design and again subjecting the glasssurface to a second or rather continua-- tion'of the initial firing operation order to fuse the decalcomania colors to the prepared background and to the glass body. Another object of the invention is to provide a neatly decorated glass article with the decorations in clear, bright colors prominently displayed and with the decorations accurately and definitelylocated with relation to the prelocated background formed on the glass object.

.Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be obvious from a coni sideration of-the preferred method of practicing the invention hereinafter described and from an inspection of the accompanying drawings and in part will be more fully set forth in the following particular description of one method for practicing the invention and the invention also consists in certain new and novel operations and features of 76 construction and combination of parts in the finished product hereinafter set forth and disclosed. "In the following description of one preferred method by means of which the inv'en- 80 tion may be practised reference will be made to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation of a medicine bottle as it appears after the background design has beenfusedthereto;

Fig. 2 is .a similar view of the bottle with the completed design thereon as it appears after the completion of the firing operation;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional View taken onthe line 33 of Fig. 2; and

' Fig.- 4 is a' view of the decalcomania as it appears prior to being applied to the background of Fig. 1 to form the complete label shown in Fig. 2. i

In the following description and in the 96 claim, parts will be identified by specific names for convenience of expression but they are intended to be as generic in their application to similar parts as the art will permit.

In the drawing there is shown a conven--'10o tional form of medicine bottle 10 made of a colorless clear glass but which may be of any olor. By the use of a stencil, mask,-or other form of device for outlinin painted or sprayed figures, a thin coating 0' a metallic color is positioned on the clear glass sur-' face illustrated in Fig. 1 to give a background 11 of any desired configuration. The

background shown in Fig.1 is shown substantially rectangular as this is the conventional form of background used on druggists reagent bottles. It is, of course, within the scope of the disclosure to make this background circular, elliptical or even irregular in outline and to make it of any desired color. In the form illustrated the back ground is green.

The bottle with the color so formed thereon is subjected to a firing treatment at a temperature suflicient to fuse the backcolors carried on a paper or other vehicle decalcomania on the prepared background.

Operators in this art become 'extremely skilled in centering or otherwise positioning and locating the deealcomania with reference to the background field and in this case dependence can be placed entirely upon the operators eyes to udge the proper location of the decalcomania. It is suggested, however, that with the unskilled operator, or where extreme accuracy is desired in locating the decalcomania, suitable gauges and measuring devices may be ut1- lized for this purpose. With the decalcomania properly located on the background, the entire device is subjected to a second firing treatment which has the effect of fusing the decalcomania design to the background and to-the underlying glass forming the front portion of the bottle. At the termination of this second firing treatment there is formed the complete design shown at 14 in Fig. 2 and in.which the decalcomania transfer is framed by the background 11 and the decorative effect produced by the design is of course definitely located with reference to the bottle as a whole. Inv Fig. 2 it may be assumed that the star is red and the lettering blue or purple'in color, both contrasting with the green background.

In distinction from the disclosure in the above identified co-pending application, the glass is homogeneous, the design is not on a separate piece of glass, and the front face of the glass bottle is substantially smooth or is on y minutely roughened as shown at 15 in Fig. 3 due to the presence of the fired coating.

While the method herein disclosed necessitates two firing ,operation's in distinction from the method defined in the above identified application which features but one firing operation, it is understood that every effort is made in practicing the invention herein'disclosed to approach the ideal single firing operation disclosed in the preceding application and it may be considered that the firing operation herein disclosed is in effect but one firing operation in so far as the time element is concerned, the operation being intercepted during the fusing of the background color for a time suflie'ient to permit the positioning on the background of the decalcom'ania after which the fusing action is continued Without necessarily waiting for the glass to cool before the-fusion act is completed. As it is not necessary to spend the time necessary to soften the glass label, as is the case in the preceding application, the method herein disclosed can be effected much more quickly than heretofore.

While there has been shown and described, and pointed out in the annexed claim, certain novel features of the invention, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

In the art of affixing av colored label to a clear glass bottle, the method which consists in positioning a thin background forming coating of a metallic, color on the clear glass surface, said coating having the outline configuration desired of the completed label, subjecting the bottle with such coating to a firing treatment for a short period of time and at a temperature sufiiciently high to fuse the background firing color gently to the face of the glass, positioning on the background thus formed a dec'alcomania of the desired label located accurately with relation to the outlines of the background and formed of a plurality of metallic colors contrastin and S11 jecting the same to a second firing treatment to fuse the decalcomauia design to the background design.

Signed at Clifton, in the county of Passaie and State of New Jersey, this 23rd day of March A. D. 1926.

EDWARD A. .ZEH.

with the color of the background. 

